Multicolor printing press



H. A. W. WOOD MULTICOLOR PRINTING PRESS Sept. 4, 1934.

Original Filed March 5, 1931 2 She ets-Sheet 1 0 INVENTOR.

"HENRY/9. M55 ll aoo ATTORNEY H. A. W. WOOD MULTICOLOR PRINTING PRESS Sept. 4, 1934.

Original Filed March 5, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet, 2,

' QIL'" JYNVENTOR.

HEW/PYA M55 #000 ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 4, 1934 1372,50": MULTICOLOR PRINTING PRESS Henry Wise Wood,-New.-York, N. Y., assignor to Wood ..Newspaper Machinery Corporation, New York,-N.1Yl, a, corporation of Virginia Application 'March. 5,1931; Serial No. 520,293 J Renewed January; 30 $1934 5 The present invention relates to improvements in. multi-color printing presses.

An object of the invention. is to provide a novel arrangement of single impression and multiple 5 impression printing units, wherebya publication such, for instance, as a newspaper may be printed partly in single color and partly in multiple colors.

In a copending application, Serial No. 512,029, filed January 29, 1931, I describe an arrangement of single impression and multiple impression units whereby ,a web'mayjbe printed in one'color on one face andin a plurality of colors on the other..

An object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement whereby. a web may be printed in multiple colors on both faces thereof.

Another. object of the invention is to provide means for printinga web in multiple colors on both facesthereof and in one color, say b1ack,:on one of said faces.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pair of multi-color units through whicha webmay be passed in succession, one unit being reversed with respect tothe other, so as to perfect the web in. .color and also to provide means between the units'for. slitting the web so that a. portion there of .maypass .by, the second 'unit'without being impressed thereby.

A further object. of the invention is to provide asingle impression perfecting unit and a muitiple impression unit. with slitting. means between *the unitswherebya part-width stripof the. web may be passed through the multiple impression unit to receive a pluralityof color impressions thereon, while another strip of the web avoids the multicolor unit and receives impressions from the single impression unit only.

Other objects and advantages of the invention willappearinthe following description of two embodiments'th'ereof and thereafter the novelty and scope of the-invention will be pointed out in the claims.

In. the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is adiagrammati'c side elevation of an arrangement of single-color and multi-colo'r printing units. embodyingmy invention; and.

Fig. .2 is a similar .view of a modified form of my invention.

Reierringto the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, my improved printing-press comprises abase 10 on which are mounted two perfecting unitsA and B. Theseunits are alike andrtheclescription of one will suffice forthe other.

The unit A comprises two printing couples, one consisting of animpressioncylinder l2 and plate cylinder -13 and' theother of an impression. cylinder 14 and platecylinder 15; Each-ofthe plate cylinders'is provided with it's own inking system 16." The-web a is ledsuccessively'through the two couples and thence is guided to a multi-eolor unit C mounted above the unit A The multi-color unitC comprises an impres sion cylinder 17 against" which bear four plate cylinders'18,'19;"20 and 21 respectively; Each of these plate cylinders has its own inking system 221 Over the unit B is another'multiple'impression unit D which is similar to-the unit C.

The web a passes around the impressioncylinder 17 inclockwise direction-as indicated bythe arrow, so as to receive impressions from the plate cylinders 18, 19, 20 and 21' in the order named;

Thence the web is guided over suitable rolls to the top of the unit D 'wh'ereitis passed incounter clockwisedirection about the impression cylinder 17 of the "unit D'. The web' then receivesimpressions from the'plate'cylinde'rs of'the 'unit D in the, order '19, 18, 21 and20iy Thus; it=wi1l"be ob'servedthat the web is printed on opposite faces thereof 'bythe two couples of unit A'and thenis printed'onone face by the unit Candon the other by. the .unit D.

Ordinarily; the color of the impressions made by the unit 'A will be black; although, obviously, any other colorcan beused and'the color ir'n'; pressed by the. plate cy1inder'13 mayidifier from that'of the plate cylinder 15 'because-each"plate cylinderhas its own inking-"system. The'four colors applied to the plate cylinders ofunitC may alsobeidiff'erent from the four colors provided bythe plate cylinders of :the unit Di 7 The units A and'C are driven by" a common motor .23Tmounted 'therebetween. The drive'of unit A is effected'bya chain belt 2.4a which runs from the motor to a sprocket wheel 25 fiiied to the cylinder 12. Another chain belt 26 'drives'the inrpression cylinder 1'7, but, since' the impression cylinder 1'7 turns in the opposite directionto' the rotation: of ;the impression" cylinder 12, areversing'gear is provided'between the belt '26 "and'the cylinder :17. This reversing gear which isknot shown in the drawings, maybe of any suitable type such, for instance; as that shown. in'mycopendingapplication. Since the impressioncylinder 17 is reversible the inking system. 22 of. each :plate cylinder must also be reversible andconsequently change rolls2'7 are provided in each inking system, which maybe adjusted'like the change gears of ."a lathe to provide for a'change in relative rotationof the fountain roll of thesystem' with respectto the hiking rolls.

The .units Bf'andD are similarly driven by a common motor, but since the direction of rotation of the impression cylinder 17 in unit D is the same as that of impression cylinder 12 in unit B, it is not necessary to provide a reversing gear in the drive of the unit D. However, in order to make the units all interchangeable, a reversing gear is preferably provided for the unit D as well, and the inking systems of the unit D are also provided with change rolls 27.

The web a after passing through the units A," C and D in succession, is led to a drag roll of the assembling mechanism E, where itis slitby a slitter roll 31 into strips a and a A second web I) is passed through theunit B "and then instead of continuing through the unit D is led to a drag roll 36 where it is slit by a slitterroll 37 into a pair of strips b and b Thestrip a? is passed about a pair of angled turning bars 32 which carry it under and into alinement with the strip a and, similarly, the strip b? is passed about turning bars 38 which turn it under the strip b All of the strips a a b and b then pass as a unit to the drag roll 39 of a folder F.

In the drawings, the web b is shown in full lines as passing only through the first printing couple 12-13 of the unit B and avoiding the printing couple 1415. This arrangement, of course, is optional and the web may be carried also through the second couple, as indicated by broken lines, so that both faces of the web will be printed.

The arrangement ofunits in Fig. 2 is similar to that in Fig. 1, except that a drag roll 40 and a.

- slitter roll 41 are provided between the units C and D and a drag roll 42 and a slitter roll 43 are provided between the units B and D.

As shown in Fig. 2, a web W is led first through the unit A to receive single-color impressions on opposite faces thereof and then is passed through the unit C to receive multi-color impressions on one face thereof. The web is then slit by the slitter roll 41 into two strips W and W3. The strip W proceeds directly to the assembly mechanism E, whereas the strip W is. passed through the unit D in counterclockwise direction to.receive multi-color impressions on the opposite face s thereof before it is led to the assembling mechanism E. It will be understood, of course, that the strip W being a half widthweb engages only one-half of the length of the cylinders in unit D. Another web w is led through the unit B to receive single-color impressions on opposite faces thereof, and then is slit by the slitterroll 43 into strips w and w The strip w is then led through the unit D side-by-side with the strip W while the strip to runsv directly tothe assembling mechanism E.

As a result of this arrangement, we find that in the assembling mechanism the strip' to is printed in black on both faces (assuming that black is the color of ink employed in the units A and B) and in multiple colors on the'upper face thereof; the strip w is printed in black and multiple colors on both faces thereof; the strip w is printed in black on both faces thereof and in multiplecolors on the under face thereof; while .the strip 20 is printed only in black on each face thereof. i I

In the assembling mechanism E all of the strips may be brought into superposed alinement by means of .turning bars 45 and the strips may be brought into mutual register by means compensating rolls 46. vThereafter the strips are all led as a unit to the drag roll 4'? of the folder F.

While turning bars are provided for each strip, obviously, only the alternate strips will be turned to bring all of the strips into superposed alinement. However, any strip may be turned to one side or the other by means of theturning bars, or the strips may continue without turning to separate folding forms 48 in the folder F. It will be thus observed that by my arrangement, I provide for a wide variety of combinations of single-color and multi-color printing.

It willbe understood that the arrangements described above are to be taken as illustrative and not *limitative of my invention and that I reserve the right to make such changes in method, form, construction and arrangement of parts as fall within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A web printing press comprising a single color press unit, a pair of multi-color press units, means for guiding a web through the single color press unit and thence through one of the multi-color units and through the other multi-color unit in reverse direction, means for slitting the web into a pluralityof strips between the two multi-color v units, means for diverting one of the strips from the second-multi-color unit, and means'for assembling all of the strips in superposed relation.

2. A web printing press comprising a pair of multi-color press units, a single-color press unit, means for guiding a web through one multi-color unit in one direction and through the second multi-co'lor unit in'reverse direction, meansfor slitting the web into a pair of strips, means for diverting one of the stripsfrom the second multicolor unit, means for guiding a second web through the single-color unit, means for slitting the second web into a pair of strips, means for guiding one of the latter strips through the second multicolor unit side-by-side with the strip of the first named web, a folder, and means for leading all of'the strips to said folder.

3. A web printing press comprising a pair of multi-color press units, a single-color press unit, means for guiding a web through one multi-color unit in one direction and through the second multi-color unit, in reverse direction, means for slitting the web into a plurality of strips, means for divertingcertain of the strips from the second multi-color unit, means for guiding a second web 1 5 through the single-color unit, means for slitting the second web into a plurality of strips, means for guiding certain of the latter strips through the second multi-color unit side by side with the portion therein of the first named web, a folder, and means for leading all of the strips to the folder.

4. A web printing press comprising a pair of multi-color press units, a single-color press unit, means for guiding a web through one multi-color unit in one direction andthrough the second multi-color unit, in reverse direction, means for slitting the web into a plurality of strips, means for diverting certain of the strips from the second multi-color unit, means for guiding a second web through the single-color unit, means for slitting the second web into a plurality of strips, means for guiding certain of the latter strips through the second multi-color unit side-by-side with the portion therein of the first named web, a folder, and means for assembling all of the strips in superposed relation and leading them as a unit to the folder. I

5. A web printing press comprising two multicolor press units, two'single color perfecting press web into a plurality of strips, means for guiding certain of the latter strips through the second multi-color unit side by side with the strips of the first web passing therethrough, a folder, and means for assembling all of the strips in superposed relation and leading them as a unit to said folder.

HENRY A. WISE WOOD. 

